SPIDER-MAN: HOBGOBLIN LIVES #1 - January 1997
Victims
Credits: Roger Stern (writer), Ron Frenz & George Perez (art), Christie Scheele (colors), Jim Novak (letters)
The Plot:
Jason Macendale is convicted of the Hobgoblin’s crimes, but on his way
out of the courtroom, publicly names Ned Leeds as the original
Hobgoblin. Later, Macendale is killed in prison by the original
Hobgoblin. The Hobgoblin then visits “Roderick” Kingsley, forcing him
to revive their previous working relationship.
Review: I’m only going to do capsule reviews of the Hobgoblin Lives
limited series, largely because the behind-the-scenes details relating
to the Hobgoblin’s true identity, and the tangled continuity that
surrounded the original mystery, have already been covered extensively
by others. Comic Book Legends Revealed did a far better job than I
could ever do, so check those articles out if you want to learn more.
The
premise behind this limited series is to reveal who Roger Stern
originally intended the Hobgoblin to be back in the early ‘80s, and
considering that Wizard magazine loved to play up the idea that the Hobgoblin’s true identity remained a secret all these years later, this did seem like kind of a big deal. Wizard
also seemed to be adamant that Roger Stern was the last great
Spider-Man writer, so that certainly helped to build up anticipation for
the limited series. (Wizard’s
nostalgia for the Roger Stern issues always struck me as a bit
overblown. I like Stern’s run, and can certainly understand why he
seemed like a breath of fresh air at the time, but I’ve never understood
their dismissive attitude towards practically everything that came
later.)
The
first issue largely serves as a reintroduction to every Hobgoblin
suspect from the early ‘80s, and as an argument against the “proof” that
Ned Leeds was truly the Hobgoblin. Neither of these elements is going
to be a perfect fit; most of the Hobgoblin suspects had disappeared over
a decade earlier, and no one in the comics ever seemed to doubt Ned’s
role as the Hobgoblin. The editors tried to make the reintroduction of
the forgotten characters less abrupt by sneaking them into various
Spider-Man comics leading up to this series, which is really all that
they could’ve done. Regarding Ned Leed’s exoneration, Stern hinges it
on the idea that the super-powered Hobgoblin couldn’t have been killed
by four ordinary assassins. That’s not necessarily true, and it’s
certainly odd that it’s Mary Jane who suddenly develops this theory.
However, what makes the Ned Leeds fake-out more palatable is knowing
that another person, Lefty Donovan, died while posing as the Hobgoblin
years earlier. So there is a precedent for the Hobgoblin setting
doppelgangers up to be killed in order to cover his tracks. Revealing
that Ned just happened to be the latest isn’t much of a stretch at all.
For
fans of the original storyline, this limited series has to be a treat.
Not only is Roger Stern revealing the Hobgoblin’s true identity, he’s
also bringing back all
of the old suspects and taking in a lot of disparate Spider-Man
continuity to deepen the mystery. (This has to be one of the very few
times Terry Kavanagh’s Web of Spider-Man
run was acknowledged by another writer.) Fans who missed the original
issues probably won’t get nearly as much of it, even though this is
still an engaging Spider-Man story with great art. My only real
problem, as a reader who only knew Jason Macendale as the Hobgoblin, was
his pathetic death scene. I was already kind of annoyed with some
writers’ insistence that Macendale was a perennial loser, but it’s even
more irritating to see him killed off in a flagrant attempt to build up
another character.
SPIDER-MAN: HOBGOBLIN LIVES #2 - February 1997
Back in Business
Credits: Roger Stern (writer), Ron Frenz, Jerome Moore, & Scott Hanna (art), Joe Andreani (colors), Jim Novak (letters)
The Plot:
Spider-Man asks Betty Brant-Leeds and Flash Thompson to help him
investigate the Hobgoblin’s true identity. Meanwhile, the Hobgoblin
strikes an Osborn industrial plant. After Betty makes a public
announcement that she’s found her late husband’s personal notes, she’s
confronted by the Hobgoblin. Spider-Man engages him in a fight, and is
left for dead in the East River.
Review:
Another issue spent recapping the established clues and teasing
various characters as potential Hobgoblin(s). Former Bugle writer Jacob
Conover is the preferred red herring this issue, as Stern reminds
everyone that he hated Ned Leeds and was involved with stories connected
to the Hobgoblin back in the day. Jacob Conover would’ve been a
terrible choice as the Hobgoblin, but honestly, not much worse than the
actual culprit we’ll discover in the next issue. The real highlight
this time is Frenz’s art; there are some truly fantastic shots of
Spider-Man and the Hobgoblin this issue.
SPIDER-MAN: HOBGOBLIN LIVES #3 - March 1997
Secrets
Credits: Roger Stern (writer), Ron Frenz & Bob McLeod (art), Christie Scheele (colors), Jim Novak (letters)
The Plot:
Spider-Man swims out of the river and eventually locates the
spider-tracer hidden in Betty’s tape recorder. Before he arrives,
Hobgoblin confesses to Betty that he brainwashed Ned and used him as a
doppelganger to cover his activities. When he grew bored with crime, he
had Ned killed. Spider-Man arrives and eventually unmasks the
Hobgoblin, revealing him as Roderick Kingsley. Meanwhile, Betty
discovers Kingsley’s brother Daniel has been impersonating Roderick.
The Kingsley brothers are placed in jail, enabling Peter and his
friends to move on.
Review:
And here’s the grand reveal…the Hobgoblin is a long forgotten minor
character from the early ‘80s that practically disappeared after Roger
Stern left the books. Not knowing who Roderick Kingsley was at all
was kind of annoying (from my perspective as a snotty teenager), but I
can’t imagine that the fans who actually remembered Kingsley were
thrilled with this revelation, either. Having recently read Kingsley’s
first appearances in the Spider-Man Legends: Roger Stern
trade, I now know that the guy’s about as intimidating as Barry
Manilow. On a gut level, it just feels like a trick. However, the
idea of a corrupt fashion designer stumbling across the Green
Goblin’s gear and kind of cheating his way into super-villainy does sort
of sound like a classic Marvel premise. The Red Skull was once a
bellhop, after all, so maybe this isn’t so ridiculous.
The
revelation that the “Roderick Kingsley” we saw in the first issue was
actually his brother in a toupee, however, that one I’m not going to
forgive. Kingsley’s brother was only mentioned once during the original
storyline, so while it’s somewhat admirable that Stern planted this seed a long
time ago and finally got to pay it off, it just feels kind of cheap.
The bad guy is covering his identity with a brother, who happens to
look exactly like him, even though they’re not twins and he’s somehow
ended up with a baldness gene that skipped Roderick. I believe Tom
DeFalco knew about this original plan during his stint as writer and he
nixed it because it didn’t feel as if Stern was playing fair with the
reader. I’ll side with DeFalco on this one.
That
said, I don’t want to give the impression that I hated this miniseries.
I actually thought it was a lot of fun; the big revelation is more of
an annoyance than anything, since I have no investment in the original
mystery. And you’ve got to give Stern credit for the amount of research
he put into the project, and for all of the ways he’s able to justify
several writers’ continuity and make all of this feel like a coherent
story. This is also one of the best-looking Spider-Man projects
released during this era. It’s a shame that Ron Frenz wasn’t asked to
do more Spidey work during these days (especially considering the
numerous fill-in artists that were brought in, none of them as good as
Frenz). Just imagine a Ron Frenz/George Perez run on one of the
Spider-titles during this era, instead of some of the imitation Image
stuff that kept coming out. I would like to know the story behind the
gigantic, off-model spider-emblem on Spider-Man’s chest, though. That’s
the true mystery.
Review:
I believe this issue marks Joe Bennett’s Spider-Man debut, even though
he’s still a fill-in artist working on a few of the tittles at this time. After Steve Skroce
disappears from Amazing Spider-Man,
Bennett will become the regular artist as the title kills time awaiting
the John Byrne revamp. I never cared for Bennett’s rendition of
Spider-Man, although his work in this issue is more tolerable than what I
remember from Amazing Spider-Man. His Spider-Man at this point is heavily influenced by Erik Larsen, with a bit of Ron Lim’s look from the early Unlimited
issues thrown in. It’s not great, but it doesn’t distract from the
story. His Puma is surprisingly effective, making him seem truly feral
for the first time in ages. Not that we’re seeing too much of the
Puma’s mystic form in this issue. Tom DeFalco has decided to have
Thomas Fireheart abstain from his other identity, trying to build
tension for the inevitable moment when he gives in and becomes a beast.
Like most of the ideas in this issue, the execution is just flat.
There’s also talk of the opposing forces that created the universe,
letting go of the past, new beginnings, and personal responsibility.
And the idea’s tossed in that Raptar might just be Puma’s uncle in
disguise, making the entire story an elaborate hoax. Honestly, none
of this is fleshed out properly. The deeper themes feel tacked on, and
teasing the reader with the prospect that everyone (even Dr. Strange)
was fooled by Puma’s uncle just makes the entire affair feel like a
cheat.
